Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe wants it but appears to have a divided opinion on making Palworld free-to-play and switching it into a Live-Service game. While the company is weighing on making a shift towards a free-to-play model, future directions are still unclear. CEO comments, “To be honest, things aren’t decided yet.”
In an interview with ASCII Japan (translated by Automaton Media), Takuro Mizobe discussed the challenges in switching between the business model by saying, “While I understand that the live-service model is good for business, it’s not that easy.”
Mizobe added, “When you think about it from a business perspective, making (Palworld) a live-service game would extend its lifespan and make it more stable in terms of profitability.”
“However, the game was not initially designed with that approach in mind, so there would be many challenges involved in taking it down the live-service path.”, continued.
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Quite an issue in turning Palworld into a Live-Service game
While the CEO confined Palworls could alter from a B2P (Buy-to-Play) to an F2P (Free-to-Play) model with paid elements such as skins and battle passes, it would add further complications, given the fact that millions of players have already purchased Palworld for $29.99.
Mizobe cited the strategies like PUBG and Fall Guys which compensated the game purchasers by giving them valuable in-game items. Palworld could approach with this similar method. However, developers are aware that the execution is not that simple.
While the developers are eager to attract new players, they are not willing to do that at the cost of the existing ones. Mizobe affirmed that the team even considered monetizing the game by running ads, but passed on it because “Steam users hate ads.”
Moreover, the CEO also wants to have feedback from the gaming community, “The most important thing is whether the players want it or not”.
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